Changsha (Chángshā; 112.988E 28.192N) was founded over 2000 years ago and became an educational and cultural center. It was opened to foreign trade in 1904. Vessels of up to 500 tons were able to reach the port from the Yangtze via Tunting Lake, and it was a major rice marketing center.
The Japanese first marched on Changsha in fall of 1939, but this was a limited campaign aimed more at keeping the Chinese off-balance than at seizing territory. The second campaign, in the spring of 1941, encountered fierce resistance and the Japanese suffered numerous casualties before withdrawing. It was probably the worst defeat the Japanese suffered in China prior to the outbreak of war in the Pacific, and demonstrated to the Japanese that the Chinese were not about to capitulate. Japanese frustration over the protracted Chinese war combined with the threat of American economic sanctions was an important factor in bringing about the Pacific War.
The third Changsha campaign was launched on 13
December 1941 and was aimed largely at keeping the Chinese preoccupied
while the Japanese seized Hong Kong.
11 Army mustered 120,000
men and 600 artillery pieces and
was supported by the aircraft
of 1 Air Brigade, the largest air
formation left in China after most were pulled out to participate in
the Centrifugal Offensive.
When Hong Kong fell on 23 December 1941, the Japanese decided to
continue the Changsha campaign, which had gone well so far, and capture
the city for its value as a symbol of Chinese defiance. This played
into the hands of the Chinese, whose commander, Hsueh Yueh, allowed the Japanese
to penetrate deeply into the Changsha area, then cut off the two
Japanese
spearhead divisions. The Japanese
were forced to retreat after losing tens of
thousands of casualties.
References
The Pacific War Online
Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
